A new television company, Net2TV Corp., headed by industry veterans from MTV/Nickelodeon, Black Arrow, NBC, TiVo and Netflix, is now providing advertising-supported, cloud-based television programming services.

Based in Redwood City, CA, Net2TV’s first television service, Portico, features free, ad-supported programming from CBS Interactive’s food site CHOW.com, Popular Science and WSJ Live from The Wall Street Journal. Initial distribution is to Philips Smart TVs in the U.S.

Net2TV’s Portico brings to Internet-connected TVs free, program-length shows from recognized brands using cloud technology from ActiveVideo Networks. The programs are grouped by areas of interest such as food, science and technology and entertainment.

“Good television — the television viewers love — is an art, not an algorithm,” said Net2TV CEO Thomas Morgan. “We’re building television programming that lets viewers enjoy smart TV just like they do traditional television.”

When viewers select a category like Portico Tech featuring Revision 3 and Popular Science, or a stand-alone category like CHOW.com, the screen displays a video window with a host talking about what’s new. The adjacent windows show video playing on branded channels. Any of these channels can be selected to go to full screen.

Net2TV works with television programmers to create packaged, long-form shows running 30 or 60 minutes per episode.